Improved machine for making ginger-snaps and crackers



iintvd sinistra gate-nt @with JOHN MCCOLLM -AND JOSEPH PARR, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

Letters Patent No. 91,7 59, dated June 22, 1869.

IMPROVE!) MACHINE FDR MAKING GINGER-SNAPS AND RA'CKERS.

The Schedule referred tovin tlese Letters Patent and making part of the sama..

To all 'whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, J ORN McGorLLUM and JOSEPH PARE, both residing in the city and county of New York, and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Machines for Making Ginger-Snaps and Crackers; and we do hereby declare that the following is a full and correct description thereof, reference being had to theaccompanying drawings, and to the letters of reference thereon Our invention relates to machines for making gingersnaps, crackers, &c., in which the dough, placed in a dough-box, is pressed in continuous cylindrical strips by a follower through a grating in the bottom of the box, and cut olf, by a trame ot' reciprocating knives, into circular pieces of the proper size, and delivered upon a carrying-apron, or upon pans placed upon a carrying-,apron beneath the knivc 'lhe machine to which our improvements are applied is patented by the United States, in Letters Patent issued to Charles Neer, of Troy, New York, dated June l5, 1858.

1n said lNeel-s machine, the dough-box, with its follower, the ti'am'e of cutting-wires or knives, and the carrying-apron, are so combined-as to co-operate when the follower, frame of knives, and apron, are moved successively by hand, hand-levers being used to operate the follower and frame of knives, and a hand-crank to operate the carrying-apron.

The object of our invention is to operate the above parts automatically from a driving-shaft, in such manner that the follower shall have an intermittent progressive motion downward in the dough-box, the knives Ian intermittent reciprocating motion, to cut oli` the cake, and the carrying-apron an intermittent progressive motion, to carry forward the cakes from under -the knives, these motions being properly timed, so that the operator, by turning the crank attached to the drivingshaft, (which may also be rotated by a belt,) may turn out the cut cakes with rapidity and facility.

In said Neers machine, the bottom of the dough-box has a grating, or pcrforatedfplate, in which are as many rows ot holes as the width ofthe dough-box and the required size ofthe cakes permit.` This relieves the doughboxrand follower from the strain that would occur from the use of only one row of holes, and at the same time gives the machine capacity to supply a greater number of cakes at one movenient'of the follower; but in working a frame of knives to cut olf a number of rows of cakes, the clusters'of cakes will be deposited unevenly upon the carrying-apron, if thc knives cut in both directions, that is, back and forth alternately, and to remedy this `irregular-ity,vwe have' devised'mechanism whereby the frame of knives is moved back and forth at cachent.

Our. invention further consists in a regulating-mechanisin combined with the mechanism for operating the follower, substantially as hereinafter described.

'lo give the proper supplyof dough to the knives with certainty, and at the time required, it is necessary (the dough being elastic) to move the follower at each step furtherv down than if' the dough were not elastic, and then to allow it to return a portion of the distance through which it has been moved, to relieve the dough from the eXtra pressure, in order to prevent the dough in the box from forcing itself down through the grating while the knives are in action, by reason of its elasticity. w

The regulating-mechanism governs the distance through which the `follower is allowed to react, to relieve the dough from the extra pressure.

Our invention also consists in combining, with the mechanism for moving the follower, a mechanism, substantially as hereinafter described, for preventing breakage, whichmight be caused by the follower coming in contact with the bottom of the dough-box.

But, more particularly to describe our invention, we

will refer to the accompanying dra ings, of Which- Figure 1 is a side elevation,

Figure 2,31. front elevation, andv Figure 3,"a plan view of the machine. y

Figure 4, a detached section of the dough-box, follower, and parts of the mechanism for operating the follower;

Figure 5, a bottom view of the dough-box and frame of knives; and

Figure, a detached view, showing details of ratchetmotion for feed-apron.

Letterrepresents the frame of the machine; b, the dough-box, secured to the frame at the sides, and having its. rear plate, b, hinged at b", for conveniently opening the dough-box to place dough'therein, under the follower c, when the latter is raised up in the dough-box for that purpose.-

When the dough has been put in the box,'the rear plate is raised and secured by a clamp-bar, b, as shown in the drawings, or may be secured by anyother suitabledevice. a

The grating or perforated bottom of the dough-box b is removable, being secured in slides by the pins b's be, so that gratings having holes of different sizes for di'ereut-sized crackers or cakes may be used. i

The frame of knives d works in longitudinal. slides on the under side of the grating, as in the Neer machine.

The carrying-apron e is placed just below the knives, as in the Neer machine, and is stretched upon two drums, e e2, supported in bearings in the bracket extension-frames a. a2. i

The followers is moved by a rack, c', and pinion, c1, the former held in place by a flanged wheel, 0*, and the latter fast to a shaft, c, which receives anzintermitteilt progressive motion from a pawl, c, upon a rocking-lever, c", which engages a ratchet-wheel, cg, fast to one end of a counter-shaft, c7, which has upon the other end a pinion, c, which engages with a spurwheel, c, fast-to the aforesaid shaft c, which carries the rackpinion.

So far the machine is, in substance, as described and shown in said N eers patent, with a modified arrangement of the'rack-piniou and ratchet-gear for moving the follower.- `iVe will now proceed to describe cur improvements.

Letter f is a main driving-shaft, which rotates in bearings f fz in the main frame, and'has attached to it a hand-crank, f3, at oueend, and a 'dy-wheel, f, at the other end. The rim ofthe fly-wheel may be turned fiat, as in the drawing, to serve as a driving-pulleyr with a fiat belt, or it may have a groove, for a round belt. The hand-crank may be removed, and a belt-pulley be 'substituted therefor, but as the machine is made to work comparatively soft doughs, the power of a man upon the hand-crank is snicient to operate it asrapidly as necessary. v

'lhis driving-shaft operates the follower at the required time, by an eccentric, g, fixed upon said shaft, and connected with the rocking-lever c6 by a strap, g', and rod, g2, the latter jointed to the rocking lever by an adjustable stud-pin, y.

The driving-shaft f also operates the carryingapron .atthe required time, by an adjustable crank-pin, h, se-

cured in the usual manner in a slot in an arm of vthe fiy-wheel, (not shown in the drawings,)4 which imparts au intermittent progressive forward movement to the carrying-apron, through the pitman h and the ratchetmechanism h2, connected with the driving-drinn e2 of t the lcarrying-apron. The details of this ratchet-motion are shown in fig. 6, and are so well known as not to need minute description.

Tile frame of knives remains at rest during half a revolution of the main shaft., and is moved forward and back to cut the cakes just after every downward movement 'of the follower, and before every forward movement ofthe apron, whiletheapron is at rest, by mech- .anisr'n as follows:

A n eccentric, i, fast to the main shaft f, communicates a rocking motion, through the strap t" and rod if, to a rocking lever, i", which is pivoted upon a horizontal stud-pin, i, and carries a pawl, if', which latter engages, at each-revolution of the shaft f, with oue'of four inclined ratchet-teeth,i6, cut at equal distances apartnpon the inside of the rini of a cog-wheel, i7, which turns freely upon the .stud-pin being moved by the pawll one-quarter of its circumference at each revolution of the main shaft. j V The cog-wheel i vgears into a smaller cog-wheel, i, the latter having just one-quarter the number of' cogteeth as in the former; which arrangement causes the short crank-shaft k, driven by the smaller cog-wheel,

to make a complete revolution during one halt' revol'u-' tion of the main shaft, and remain at rest during the otherhalf revolution, while the pawl is returning the requisite 'distance to pick up they next of the' four ratchet-teeth in the wheel i.

The short clank-shaft k, so operated, is placed immediately in front of the frame of knives, supported near one end by a bracket-bearing, k, attached to the frame a, and at the other by a hanger, ki, attached to 'the dough-box, and has a crank, k, which connects by a vcrank-pin, m, with the frame of knives, by an arm, Im1, in which is eut a vertical slot,n, to receive the crank-pin, which plays up and down in the slot as it moves the knife-frame forward and back, to cut and deliver the cakes upon the carrying-apron'.

If it is desired to deliver the cakes upon pans, they may be placed upon the apron behind the dough-box', and be carried by it underneath the knives,to receive the cakes.

The mechanism to regulate the pressure in the dough-box is constructed as follows, viz:

A cam, p, placed upon the main shaft j, actnates a horizontal lever, p', pivoted upon a pin, pz, fixed in the j main frame, and connected bya link, p3, with a pawl, fr, which is pivoted at r, and engages with a ratchetwheel, rz, first to the counter-shaft c7, to which thelratchet for driving the follower is also-attached at the other end.

The cam p-is adjustable in position upon the shaft f by a set-screw, s, so that the pawl lr may be adj usted' `upon a stud-pin, u', in a.braeket, u2, upon the top of the flame. j The other arm of .the bell-crank is connected by-a joint to one end of a sliding rod, .14), the other end Iof which slides in Va bracket-guide, w, attached tofthe frame. A spiral spring, wz, encircles the sliding rod w, and

actuates it in a direction to morethe bell-crank leverto lift the working-pawl from its ratchet.

The sliding rod is held in place against the action of the spring by a latch, x, pivoted upon the vertical- .standard z', the latch engagingwith a catch, x'l, on the sliding rod, so that,when latched, the bell-crank u is held inposition to allowthe working-pawl to engage with its ratchet, and move the follower.

\Vhen the follower'has been moved downward in the dough-box as far as advisable, the latch is unlatched from the sliding rod by an arm, y, secured to a verticalrod, y, attached to and projecting upward from the'lack-rod which operates the follower.

The unlatching-arm 1j is adjustable, being secured to the'vertical rod by screwnuts,y" y, the rod having a screw-thread cut upon it for that purpose.

When the sliding rod is uulatched, by the arm y coming down upon the latch, the spring immediately moves the sliding rod and bell-crank to lift the working-paw! from its ratchet-wheel, so that it cannot engage therewith to move the follower any further down, and thereby1 prevents breakage of the machine.

lf the machine be driven by a belt,'the sliding rod w may be connected with a belt-shipper, to shift the belt from the driving-pulley, but we prefer to use 'the connection with the working-pawl, because no breakage can occur if the pawl be not engaged with the ratchet to move the'follower.H b

- \Ve claim, as of our invention and improvement in I machines for makingginger-snaps, cakes, crackers, 85e.,

wherein the dough is pressed by a follower through a grating in a dough-box, cut off by knives, and delivered in cakes upon a carrying-apron, the following, viz:

l'. The intermittent lpl'ogressive motion .of the follower, in combination with the intermittent reciproeating motion of the knives, and the intermittent pro-v gressive motion of the apron, when said motions are derived fromand are timed by a rotating shaft, or first mover, connected with thefollower, the frame of knives,

yand the'carrying-apron by mechanical devices, subfirst mover andthe frame of knives, the "eccentric, with its strap and rod, the four-toothed ratchet-wheel and its pawl, and the short crank-shaft and crank-connections, wherebyT the knives are made to move forward and back during one-half a revolution of the machine, and to remain at rest during the other half revolution, substantially as and for the purposes described.

4, The regulating-mechanism, substantially as hereinbefore described, in combination with the mechanism for moving the follower downward in the doughbox, whereby the pressure of the follower upon the dough is regulated, substantially as hereinbefore de scribed.

5. The mechanism for preventing breakage, :substantially as, herein described, in combination with the follower and its actuating-mechanism, whereby the follower is `relieved. from the action of its actuatingmechanism when it has descended to near the bottom of the dough-box, substantially as described.

JOHN MCOOLLUM. JOSEPH PARR.

Witnesses:

` F. C. TREADWELL, J r.,

J. W. CAMPBELL. 

